History FanPreferredCouple / ComicBooks

** FlameOmen: As a result of Bette Kane's return to the Flamebird mantle during ''ComicBook/DawnOfDC'' (specifically, the anthology ''DC's Legion of Bloom'') bringing a brand new popularity to the character, one major ship to come out is the pairing of ComicBook/{{Flamebird}} and Omen (aka Lilith Clay) as a result of fans rereading Bette's appearances and noticing her LesYay tendencies towards Lilith (as well as Lilith being a {{Tsundere}} in general).

** As a result of Bette Kane's return to the Flamebird mantle during ''ComicBook/DawnOfDC'' (specifically, the anthology ''DC's Legion of Bloom'') bringing a brand new popularity to the character, one major ship to come out is the pairing of ComicBook/{{Flamebird}} and Omen (aka Lilith Clay) as a result of fans rereading Bette's appearances and noticing her LesYay tendencies towards Lilith (as well as Lilith being a {{Tsundere}} in general).

** As a result of Bette Kane's return to the Flamebird mantle during ''ComicBook/DawnOfDC'' (specifically, the anthology ''DC's Legion of Bloom'') bringing a brand new popularity to the character, one major ship to come out is the pairing of ComicBook/{{Flamebird}} and Omen (aka Lilith Clay) as a result of fans rereading Bette's appearances and noticing her LesYay tendencies towards Lilith (as well as Lilith being a {{Tsudere}} in general).

** Despite the lengthy romantic development between Conner and Cassie as a relationship, bubbling from the pages of ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'' and into ''ComicBook/TeenTitans2003'', fans would rather prefer shipping Conner with Tim Drake instead, in a case that's probably the most popular HoYay fan ship in DC's existence. Borders onto OfficialCouple status when it's confirmed that Tim himself has feelings for Conner in ''Dark Crisis: Young Justice'' (not to mention his behaviour during ComicBook/RedRobin).

** ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} and ComicBook/{{Starfire}}, which naturally causes friction with the Batman fandom. Kory and Dick were consistently portrayed with a supportive, loving relationship that enabled both of them to grow as characters, and the ship quickly became an iconic comic book couple. Fans of the ship were ''not'' happy at the infamous break-up of their wedding and are even less happy at the constant downgrading of Dick and Kory's relationship in modern comics in favor of Barbara Gordon. Thanks in part to continued ShipTease in comics, the [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans 2003 cartoon]], and the [[Series/Titans2018 ongoing live-action show]], the ship still has a massive fanbase who would love to see them get together again for good.
** Just try finding a fan who ships [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Donna Troy]] with her (late) husband, Terry Long. You might find a few people who still defend the wedding issue of New Teen Titans as a classic; but Terry's demanding behavior, coupled with the large age gap between the pair, meant that the ship itself quickly became CondemnedByHistory. No one was upset when the two divorced, or when Terry eventually died. Creator/MarvWolfman thought that Donna would be happiest with an older man, but fans did not agree, and preferred seeing Donna with [[Franchise/GreenLantern Kyle Rayner]] (a ship that Wolfman himself hated).

* A lot of people forget or are unaware that Archie and Veronica were the original OfficialCouple of ''ComicBook/ArchieComics''; it's only because of readers viewing Betty as being a better match for him that BettyAndVeronica even became a ''question''. The newspaper comic version does a much better job of emphasizing Archie/Veronica, but this still just doesn't help at all. During the last couple of decades, the writers have tried to make the triangle more even; Betty gets about as many dates with Archie, and Veronica has several other (one-shot) boyfriends.
* The ''[[Franchise/{{Batman}} Batman]]'' franchise has numerous couples that fans prefer.

* ComicBook/CarolDanvers, the original ''Ms. Marvel'' and current ''Captain Marvel'', became a potential love interest for Spider-Man following ''One More Day''. After Spidey got her to go on a date with him, the two grow to be close friends (they bonded over a shared love of New York street food) and a battle where the Venom symbiote took control of her for a bit and hinted his crush on her was mutual. While it went nowhere because Spider-Man's then writer, Dan Slott, was against it, they remain good friends, and there is still a dedicated fanbase for the two - Carol's successor as Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, [[ShipperOnDeck openly ships them]], to Spidey's bafflement.
* Due to his relationship with Daisy being rather rocky at best, ComicBook/DonaldDuck has a few of these, the most notable being the one with Reginella, queen of the planet Pacificus, who he first encountered in the 1972 story "Donald Duck in the Underwater Adventure". She is considered a preferred option due her sweet nature, her tragic character, and being the one who actually has a chance (and would have already won ''four times'' [[StarCrossedLovers had something not always forced their separation]]), and is still popular enough to have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsj6BZJFtsw a song dedicated to her]] and to receive new stories once every few years. The fact that ''[[ShipperOnDeck Scrooge approves]]'' certainly helps.
* ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} and ComicBook/{{Mockingbird}}, even after breaking up, are vastly preferred to the pairing of Hawkeye and Comicbook/SpiderWoman. Hawkeye and Mockingbird were married to each other for most of the 1980s and the early 1990s, before her apparent death in battle. She has been Hawkeye's longest-lasting relationship, even though their marriage explored their ideological differences and had plenty of conflict.
* An interesting situation occurs in the ''ComicBook/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' comic since many fans wanted Zayne to hook up with [[ActionGirl Jarael]] instead of his more obvious love interest, Shel. The reason this is an interesting situation is because [[spoiler:Zayne and Jarael become a couple in the last issue, thus making this a rare example of the FanPreferredCouple ''turning into'' the OfficialCouple]].
%%* Lenore and [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Ragamuffin]] from ''ComicBook/LenoreTheCuteLittleDeadGirl'' and ''how''. To the point where most fanart and fanfiction involve the two of them. It doesn't help that they have a bucket filled with NoYay, especially in the original comics.
* In ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'', the "mightiest" pairing is easily the HoYay[=/=]NotBloodSiblings-Yay of [[FoeYayShipping Thor/Loki]]. This is most likely because they're the two most established characters in the series, and have a few really heartwarming moments that the shippers run with. Plus, on the het side, the Thor/Jane (or Don/Jane, it's gotten confusing) Thor/Sif, and Thor/Amora shippers are too busy fighting with each other to deal with Thor/Loki shippers.

%%* ''Comicbook/SpiderGirl'' has May and Wes and before the ShipSinking, [[spoiler:May/Normie]].
* ComicBook/SpiderMan[=/=]ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson. Mary Jane's relationship with Peter was mostly written out of the books following ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'', and different love interests have been brought in to be Peter's romantic partner since (like Deb Whitman or Carlie Cooper). However, Mary Jane is still popular with many fans and from the very start of their relationship, many fans have preferred Peter to be with MJ. The duo remain a couple in some places, however, such as the ''ComicStrip/SpiderMan'' newspaper strip and the alternate universe ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManRenewYourVows''. The main universe version of Peter and MJ eventually got back together when Nick Spencer took over the writing of ''Amazing Spider-Man'' in 2018.
** Back when Gwen Stacy was still Peter's official love interest, Mary Jane Watson's unexpectedly huge popularity with the readers was a serious problem for Stan Lee and John Romita. They tried a lot of things to tone MJ down and make Gwen more "exciting", which in some respects only lampshaded their problem as it made Gwen more and more resemble MJ, most notably by changing her original hairstyle into a variant of Mary Jane's. Stan Lee ended up writing later that even he slowly began to find Gwen less interesting than MJ.

* Owing to a series of continuity reboots, ComicBook/{{Superman}} has zigzagged all over with FanPreferredCouple status. When the ComicBook/New52 launched, for the first time in the decades-long history of the characters, ComicBook/LoisLane and Superman were the Fan Preferred Couple, as he was paired with with ComicBook/WonderWoman instead of his classic love interest. Wonder Woman/Superman had a staunch foundation of supporters, and furthermore had been teased as a pairing for many years, besides being an OfficialCouple in various Main/{{Elseworlds}} stories. This departure from classic Superman--among others--proved ultimately to be more unpopular than not, so DC brought back the original Superman and Lois into the New 52 Universe for ComicBook/DCRebirth, which [[spoiler:saw the seeming death of ''New 52'' Superman and Lois, only for ''ComicBook/SupermanReborn'' to reveal that they were still alive, that Superman and Lois were split into their pre-''Flashpoint'' and ''New 52'' selves, and upon the halves of both Clark and Lois remerging, and history being altered closer to the pre-''Flashpoint'' one (including the Superman/Wonder Woman being {{Retgone}}d.]]

* ''ComicBook/WallyWest'' has had several love interests in the past, both the comics and out of them, but fans of the character pretty much unanimously ship him with his long-time wife, Linda Park. So much so that them being apart in the ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' era caused a lot of controversy and is generally seen as a big example of how DC messed up his return by refusing to let the two reunite. They were such a well-regarded couple that [[Series/TheFlash2014 the TV Series']] versions of the characters are shipped together despite ''never interacting'' and the fact Linda was a RomanticFalseLead for Barry instead is seen as a huge TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter by fans of the comics.

** While subject to almost as much ShipToShipCombat as her [[Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} daddy]], the majority of fans of [[ComicBook/{{X 23}} X-23]] still resent Marjorie Liu splitting up X and Hellion during the Baby Sitting arc of her solo series, and mentioning that arc is certain to cause much gnashing of teeth. ''Especially'' after Creator/BrianMichaelBendis hamfistedly tossed her together with [[Comicbook/AllNewXMen O5!Angel]], despite them having had no prior interaction before he hooked them up.
%%** Like many other comic book examples, Rogue and Gambit used to be an item, and after the writers split them up in the '00s they continued to be preferred by the fans. Usually one of the first questions a new writer for one of these characters gets is "Are you going to hook them back up yet?" In this case, Gambit and Rogue have had an on-again-off-again since the early 1990s, and are considered one of the most memorable couples in the entire franchise. A number fans prefer Rogue's MentorShip relationship with ComicBook/{{Magneto}} but everybody else were less eager to accept the idea of Rogue choosing an aged tyrant over a sexy thief. One memorable depiction was "X-Men" (2nd series) vol. #41 (February 1995). Earth-616 is dying (it got better) and its characters are erased. While expecting certain death, Gambit and Rogue spend their last moments kissing and embracing each other.
%%*** Marvel finally gave into the shippers and [[HappilyMarried hitched]] Gambit and Rogue in X-Men Gold #30, making them X-Men's longest enduring couple since the 90s.

** Beast Boy[=/=]ComicBook/{{Raven}} is very popular, particularly given the overlap between fans of the comics and fans of the 2003 cartoon. They've been on and off for several years; while attempts have been made to pair the two with other characters, none of them have really stuck, and it's far and away the most popular pairing for both characters.

* ''Franchise/XMen'':

** After the team up comic ''ComicBook/SpiderManDeadpool'', the Spideypool ( ComicBook/SpiderMan x ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}) pairing really took off. Due to their developing friendship and the huge amount of HoYay between the two. Including the two being "heartmates" and being friends in their old age. They have [[https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Peter%20Parker*s*Wade%20Wilson/works the second most fanfics]] together on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn for any Spider-Man media, after the platonic one between Peter and Tony, and the most for any Deadpool media.

* In ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'', the [[JustForPun mightiest]] pairing is easily the HoYay[=/=]NotBloodSiblings-Yay of [[FoeYayShipping Thor/Loki]]. This is most likely because they're the two most established characters in the series, and have a few really heartwarming moments that the shippers run with. Plus, on the het side, the Thor/Jane (or Don/Jane, it's gotten confusing) Thor/Sif, and Thor/Amora shippers are too busy fighting with each other to deal with Thor/Loki shippers.